Video: Latest Putin Ad Bites Axe Body Spray Style

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Video: Latest Putin Ad Bites Axe Body Spray Style

Bosses for life aren't used to being down in the polls. So with Russian elections looming, Vladimir Putin and his usually dominant United Russia Party try to get their mojo back the way bro-ish thugs usually do: with Axe Body Spray.

Well, sort of. Whether or not Putin spritzes himself with the stuff before, say, battling Siberian tigers, his latest TV ad apes the Axe advertising magic. It's crass sex appeal straight out of Axe's playbook. Just apply some Putin to your electoral repertoire, and just try to keep the ladies away.

Titled with the double entendre (in English, at least), "Let's Do It Together," the ad follows a teenaged everyman as he chases after an attractive girl in a polling station. She flashes him a come-hither glare. The two set off into the polling booth to mark their ballots for Putin and who knows what else. Vote Vlad and this could be you.

The push for sex appeal comes on the heels of a poll showing United Russia slipping a bit in approval ratings, at 51 percent, down from 60 percent last week. Putin's own approval rating dipped to 61 percent.

The video spurred controversy in Russia – over its portrayal of election procedure. Voting is supposed to be secret, with the voting booth a sacred, solitary space. There is no sex in democracy's Champagne Room. So Putin's ad has reaped the ire of Gennady Gudkov, a member of parliament from Russia's Duma and part of the opposition party "A Just Russia." Gudkov is now demanding an investigation for a possible violation of Russian law.

United Russia loves its vaguely porny ads. Back in July, "Putin's Army" announced itself in an advertisement featuring an attractive young woman promising to go topless and beat up United Russia naysers in the greater service of Vlad. Putin's Army also offered a bikini-and-high-heel-clad free car wash for Putin in Moscow, like something out of a bodacious high school fundraiser in an '80s movie.

But like any good thuggery artist, Putin always comes out with material directed at the ladies. There's Putin the hair metal video rock star. And who could forget his own chest flashing? Just check out his 2009 Siberian photo spread, ripped straight from the cover of a dime store Romance.